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Rotterdam: Dynamic Polder City = Land + Water + Culture F. L. Hooimeijer University of Technology Delft, The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, The Netherlands [email protected] Abstract The planning culture in the Netherlands is based on the experience of building cities on very wet and soft soils. The design of Dutch polder cities was from early on a balance between land and water: building site preparation. The relation between technological development and urban development can be ordered in six phases: natural (-1000), defensive (1000-1500), offensive (1500-1800), early manipulative (1800-1890), manipulative (1890-1990) and adaptive manipulative water management (1990-). Rotterdam is chosen to represent the heritage of the Dutch talent with regard to the design and construction of water and land into dynamic cities. This is important because awareness and knowledge about historical principles makes it possible to draw the line into the future. Keywords: planning culture, water management, building site preparation, Rotterdam 1. Introduction “God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland”. The Dutch have a rich and internationally renowned ‘fine tradition’ when it comes to the intense relationship between urban development and civil engineering. Their expertise and knowledge of hydrological laws and ingenuous technology have helped them successfully to make land out of water: polders. The dynamics of the regional water system, which include groundwater and rainwater in combination with surface water, is crucial for the process of development and urbanisation of the Dutch polders. The Dutch cities are hydrological constructions, with a spatial layout that is strongly connected to the division of land and water: building site preparation. The relation between technical efficiency and the specific characteristics of the territory and from that the way cities and landscapes are designed is different in each era. In the post-war era the characteristics of the territory are altered with the use of far stretched technology and the landscape and cities are designed with a high degree of rationality. The natural conditions of the territory are made subordinate to the thriving 1 principle of the man made culture, in Dutch the Maakbaarheids (man-made) principle. Technology can make everything, but is however very inflexible to changes. The current climate change puts pressure on the hydrological system and the technical part of that system can not go with the change. More and severe rainstorms, high temperatures and drought are very influential on the hydrological system: rivers flood or dry up and cities are flooded by rainstorms. In Rotterdam both threats are present; that is why a lot of attention is paid to the subject and even a climate director is installed. However, to be better equipped to handle the hydrological changes a clear view is necessary on the relation between the professions that are responsible for building on wet and soft soil and balance out land and water: civil engineering and urban design. The different ways to deal with the conditions of the territory, the landscape as carrier of the hydrological system, to prepare it for building cities, have never been systematically investigated. The main gap is formed by the total lack of attention towards the fact that the Dutch have built their cities on wet and soft soil, very inconvenient for building, probably because it is so self-evident for the Dutch. About building site preparation only one publication is available, Segeren and Hengeveld (1984), which also states that a lot research is still to be done. The most important reference about water cities is written by Gerald L. Burke, The making of Dutch towns (1956) that offers a systematic typology of water cities, unfortunately only till 1700. Rotterdam is an interesting case study to investigate the relation between the urban design (the culture) and the wet circumstances of the territory (balance between land and water). This is necessary because awareness and knowledge about historical principles makes it possible to draw the line into the future. The Dutch heritage and future is based on the relation between land and water, nature and culture; it determined the construction of the landscape and cities, the technology, the culture and prosperity. This paper analyses urban expansions from different phases based on Van der Ham (2002, 31) whom defined these for the landscape and therefore altered for urban developments in: natural water management (until 1000), defensive water management (1000-1500), offensive water management (1500-1800), early manipulative water management (1800- 1890), manipulative water management (1890-1990) and adaptive manipulative water management (1990 until today). For each phase a case study in Rotterdam is chosen to show the relation between land and water and how this influenced the urban development and how this can be formulated into a principle that offers a critical perspective onto the future. 2 2. Natural, defensive and offensive water management (-1800) Until the eight century, the Dutch lowlands were uninhabitable marshlands where the forces of water and wind had free reign. How people dealt with the wet surroundings was by accepting the existing situation and adapting ways of living with it. Van Ham described this period of time until the year 1000 as being distinguished by ‘natural water management’, as nature ruled over culture (Van der Ham 2002). There were small initiatives to control the natural landscape by digging drainage ditches to grow crops in the fields, but for the people living in the lower Delta there were no means of protection from the water. This was manly due to the lack of a community, people were living in small flocks together have little power in changing the natural conditions. The Frisians were an exception: they were more organized (in for example fighting the Vikings) and did make an alteration to nature for their benefit: moulds. This first form of preparation for building sites in Friesland began from 900 A.C. The mounds were intended as refuges in times of high tides and the first buildings on them were the churches, as symbol of community, later they became larger and settlements arose. All settlements in the Netherlands started on higher ground, along rivers, the sandy ridges at the coast and on the geestgrond [sandy soil between dunes and polder]. Settlements expanded in the eighth and ninth centuries for military, and later economic, reasons. Towns, or, more accurately, villages, were created on economic routes and military boundary lines. Figure 1 The development of Rotterdam, 1000, 1340 and 1500 (Source: Atlas of Dutch Water Cities) The physical characteristics of the settlements during the time of natural water management have two important spatial characteristics. First the situation of the settlements takes into account the most geographically convenient physical circumstances in the region. Secondly this location must be close to the water, but the water must not be part of the layout of the settlement (since that would make the settlement more vulnerable). Van Ham placed the change in attitude from natural water management to defensive water management around the year 1000, when the dike was introduced as means of protection (Van der Ham 2002). This new technology directly affected the location and establishment of settlements. The situation of the settlements and their physical-geographical circumstances could be altered to facilitate living and the dike enabled water, in the form 3 of a harbour, to be introduced into the settlement. Many dike and dam cities were set up in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and the sites were prepared for building by raising them with debris. 2.1 Dam city The conceptually most interesting type of water city of the defensive phase is the dam city, like Rotterdam, because of its integration of technological intervention with economical and social structures. Figure 1 is showing the development of Rotterdam. The first picture is around the year 1000; the peat area along the Maas and the Rotte is still under free reign of the water. The first mentioning of the settlement ‘Rotta’ is in 1028, but there were people living on the banks of the peat river Rotte, there where it flows into the river Maas, centuries before that. In the second half of the eleventh century the first dike ring is built, but it does not offer the enough protection and the settlement Rotta is lost. In an article about the Rotte and its first settlement, Guiran studied the soil build up and proved that in the first half of the twelfth century people had already started to use piles and mats of woven ash wood to prepare sites for building (Guiran 2004, 91-97). Around 1270 probably already the third dike ring is built (the Schielands Hogezeedijk), and there where it crossed the river Rotte the dam was constructed (Van der Schoor 1999, 21). Dam cities were established in the most rewarding places where smaller rivers flowed into a larger river. The dike at these points was the most important requirement for the creation of towns in the polders, because soil compaction and subsidence made these areas vulnerable to flooding. The dam had a water defence function, but with a drainage sluice it also took care of discharging river water from the smaller river onto open water. A combination of the scouring effect of the sluice water and the tidal movement were cleverly used to maintain the harbour at the correct depth and make the town accessible to seagoing ships. The economic importance of water transport between the sea and the hinterland was embodied in the dam with its drainage sluice; these became the heart of the city. The drainage sluice was able to accommodate only relatively small ships, and the cargo from larger ships had to be transferred or traded on the dam.

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